A unanimous recommendation that the National Fisheries Center and Aquarium be located at Hains Point in East Potomac Park, Washington, D.C. has been presented to Secretary of the Interior Stewart. L. Udall.
The recommendation was made by the National Fisheries Center and Aquarium Advisory Board meeting on April 23. Selection of Hains Point was made after consideration of an alternate site new the upper end of East Potomac Park.
Congressman Michael J. Kirwan of Ohio—whom Secretary Udall called “Father of the project”—made a brief statement thanking all who helped with the project concluding with: #So we are investing $10 million in the scientific education of the youth of our country. The facility will proved to be one of the best things which has come to Washington in years. It will prove itself from every angle, educational and recreational. And not only that, every cent in the Government will spend on this aquarium will be repaid to the government.”
Secretary Udall who attended the meeting of the Advisory Board emphasized that the new project is “not an aquarium in the same old sense of the word. It will be an institution of science and education to help the people better understand the world of water. It will be an imaginative exhibit which will pay its way and help our understanding expand as the resource needs of the Nation expand. The center has been criticized, and its critics will one day have to take back their words.”
Athelstan Spilhaus, Dean of the Institute of Technology of the University of Minnesota and Chairman of the Advisory Board, cited four reasons for preferring the Hains Point Site: accessibility to deeper water, better aesthetic surroundings, better off-loading facilities for inching specimens and finally that it is far removed from rail and highway traffic vibrations which might adversely affect certain research processes. Also, the Hains Point site will not interfere with golfing and will provide adequate parking.
The Board also recommended that a study team be assembled as soon as possible after July 1 to go into all facets of the design and made some basic recommendations relative to the design.
The Advisory Board is composed of Senator Warren G. Magnuson, Washington; Senator Winston L. Prouty, Vermont; Representative Michaels J. Kirwan, Ohio; Representative Ben Jensen, Iowa; Irving Lehman Straus, New York City; Charles E. Jackson, Washington D.C., former general manager of the National Fisheries Institute Frank P. Briggs, assistant Secretary of the Interior, ex-officio member; Dean Spilhaus.


